Search - The Rules of the Game [Criterion Collection] on DVD

Content Advisory: Adult Situations, Sexual Situations Movie Release: 1939 DVD Release: 01/20/2004 Format: DVD - Black and White Edition: Dual Layered,Restored/Remastered,Special Collection Audio Tracks: French Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 2 Number of Discs: 2 Run Time: 1 hrs 46 mins Studio: Criterion Members Wishing: 19 Genres: Comedy Drama, Comedy of Manners, Romantic Drama, Psychological Drama, Ensemble Film

Now often cited as one of the greatest films ever made, Jean Renoir's La Règle du jeu/Rules of the Game was not warmly received on its original release in 1939: audiences at its opening engagements in Paris were openly hostile, responding to the film with shouts of derision, and distributors cut the movie from 113 minutes to a mere 80. It was banned as morally perilous during the German occupation and the original negative was destroyed during WWII. It wasn't until 1956 that Renoir was able to restore the film to its original length. In retrospect, this reaction seems both puzzling and understandable; at its heart, Rules of the Game is a very moral film about frequently amoral people. A comedy of manners whose wit only occasionally betrays its more serious intentions, it contrasts the romantic entanglements of rich and poor during a weekend at a country estate. André Jurieu (Roland Toutain), a French aviation hero, has fallen in love with Christine de la Chesnaye (Nora Gregor), who is married to wealthy aristocrat Marquis Robert de la Chesnaye (Marcel Dalio). Robert, however, has a mistress of his own, whom he invites to a weekend hunting party at his country home, along with André and his friend Octave (played by Jean Renoir himself). Meanwhile, the hired help have their own game of musical beds going on: a poacher is hired to work as a servant at the estate and immediately makes plans to seduce the gamekeeper's wife, while the gamekeeper recognizes him only as the man who's been trying to steal his rabbits. Among the upper classes, infidelity is not merely accepted but expected; codes are breached not by being unfaithful, but by lacking the courtesy to lie about it in public. The weekend ends in a tragedy that suggests that this way of life may soon be coming to an end. Renoir's witty, acidic screenplay makes none of the characters heroes or villains, and his graceful handling of his cast is well served by his visual style. He tells his story with long, uninterrupted takes using deep focus (cinematographer Jean Bachelet proves a worthy collaborator here), following the action with a subtle rhythm that never calls attention to itself. The sharply-cut hunting sequence makes clear that Renoir avoided more complex editing schemes by choice, believing that long takes created a more lifelike rhythm and reduced the manipulations of over-editing. Rules of the Game uses WWI as an allegory for WWII, and its representation of a vanishing way of life soon became all too true for Renoir himself, who, within a year of the film's release, was forced to leave Europe for the United States.. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Nora Gregor - Christine de La Chesnaye
Jean Renoir - Octave
Marcel Dalio - Robert de la Chesnaye
Roland Toutain - André Jurieu
Paulette Dubost - Lisette

Often cited as one of the greatest French films ever made, Jean Renoir's biting satire of moral corruption among the genteel bourgeoisie has been given a fittingly lavish presentation in this DVD release from The Criterion Collection. La Règle du Jeu (aka The Rules of the Game) has been transferred to disc in the original full-frame aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and the audio has been mastered in Dolby Digital Mono. The dialogue is in French, with optional English language subtitles. This edition includes a wealth of bonus materials, including an introduction from director Jean Renoir; a commentary written by film historian Alexander Sesonske and read in English by Peter Bogdanovich; an analysis of selected scenes by Christopher Faulkner; and a study of the film's shooting script and a comparison of the film's two endings. In addition, there are excerpts from two television documentaries on Renoir; interviews with actress Mila Parély, set designer Max Douy, and assistant cameraman Alain Renoir (who is also Jean's son); a short documentary on how The Rules of the Game was first destroyed and then reconstructed; and writings from Jean Renoir, François Truffaut, Wim Wenders, Paul Schrader, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Bertrand Tavernier, and many more. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide